Lapierre Morgon 2010

Marcel Lapierre, who died in October 2010, was a leading light in the dynamic natural wine movement in Beaujolais. He took over running the family domaine in 1973, and in 1981 – inspired by Jules Chauvet – began vinifying his wines with no added sulfur dioxide.

This wine, made by his son Mathieu, was the first post-Marcel wine (Marcel lived to see the 2010 vintage being picked). It’s made naturally, with no additions. Two cuvees of the wine are made: one without any added sulfur dioxide at all, and the other with a little at bottling (a concession for export markets, to make the wine a little less fragile). Average age of the vines is 70 years, planted on granitic soils. It’s lovely.

M Lapierre Morgon 2010 Beaujolais, France
Supremely elegant, rounded and smooth textured, with red cherry and plum fruit. Ripe and drinkable, with a lovely texture. Pure and showing a mineral, slightly grainy character, combining sweet jammy notes with some savoury depth. It’s one of those wines that is easy to drink and enjoy, yet has a savoury side, too. 92/100

5 comments to Lapierre Morgon 2010

Lovely wine…Jamie I’d be interested in your opinion – what work is required during fermentation and the wines elevage (beyond great quality fruit) to produce and then bottle a wine without any added SO2

winerackd, I have altered the post to make the meaning clearer. My bad.
For this wine, the use of clean fruit, plus the beaujolais vinification method (a twist on carbonic maceration) such that malolactic occurs inside the berry before fermentation is complete, which means that the wine doesn’t have a risky period between alcoholic and malolactic fermentation where brett can take over.